I Am Legend
by catch424
Summary: This is my own adaption of Richard Matheson's I Am Legend. I do not have the rights to the novel, but have done this adaption out of love of the material. Any constructive criticism's are warmly welcomed. Registered with the WGA.


ACT ONE

EXT. THE HOUSE -- DAY

The sky is a muddy grey, making it impossible to decipher what time of day it is.

The house is a simple two story design, circa 1920. Its white paint job has become dull from lack of upkeep. The windows are boarded up, nailed shut from the outside.

ROBERT NEVILLE, a man of about thirty-five, dressed in a white T-shirt, blue jeans, and tennis shoes walks the perimeter of the house, his face hidden from the camera's view, inspecting the boards attached to the windows. He grabs the boards, shaking them slightly to check for their strength.

Behind his back, as he circles the house, we can see that the house next door to his has burned down long ago. Robert finds a plank that has been split. He shakes the plank slightly and it falls of.

NEVILLE

Shit.

Neville looks out at the horizon. He walks around to the front of the house. He stops at the front door and looks in the cracked mirror attached to it. It's the first time we see his face. It's worn and tired from restless sleep and loneliness. He inspects it for a moment, then steps inside the house.

INT. THE HOUSE -- CONTINUOUS

Neville enters through the front door. The living room has a feminine feel to it; one that has been neglected for a long time.

He continues down a small hallway and turns left into his bedroom.

INT. HIS BEDROOM -- CONTINUOUS

Neville enters his sparsely decorated bedroom. It is functional and uninviting, with a full bed and bureau, which is where the bedroom portion ends. At the other end of the room Neville has set up a small shop, just under the window he is boarding up.

He looks out the window.

ANGLE ON HIS BEDROOM WINDOW.

The camera captures a board rising up over the window, cutting off the view of the yard.

CUT TO:

EXT. THE HOUSE -- CONTINUOUS

Neville hammers a plank over window, a cigarette dangling from his mouth. From the P.O.V. of the camera we see that the house on the other side has also burned down.

CUT TO:

EXT. THE HOUSE - BACKYARD -- LATER

Neville inspects the hot house and water tank. They are undamaged.

He walks along the side of the house to the front yard. He stares down his empty street. It looks like a war was fought on Cimarron Street, but the sound of its emptiness bespeaks the outcome. Neville takes a deep drag off his cigarette then puts it out in the street before heading back into the house.

CUT TO:

INT. THE HOT HOUSE -- DAY

Neville carries a basket, collecting garlic. He picks through the garden, pulling only the adult garlic bulbs. He inspects them, making sure that they are ripe for harvest before placing them in the basket.

CUT TO:

INT. KITCHEN -- DAY

Neville flicks on the light switch. The light flickers on. The generator can be heard in the garage. Neville grumbles.

CUT TO:

INT. GARAGE -- MOMENTS LATER

Neville steps into the garage. The generator grumbles and hums. Neville inspects the generator, looking it over. He gets out the manual and gives it the once over. He takes a deep breath and looks at his watch. Two o'clock.

NEVILLE

Just have to deal with it later.

CUT TO:

INT. KITCHEN -- DAY

Neville sits on a high stool, separating the bulbs into small, sickle shaped cloves. He cuts each pink, leathery clove in half, exposing the fleshy center buds. He then takes an ice pick off the wall rack and punches holes in each clove half, running a string through them to make a necklace. He tosses his new necklace on top of a pile on others.

CUT TO:

EXT. THE HOUSE -- AFTERNOON

Neville takes an old necklace off the nail and smells it. He tosses the old one away. He strings the new one over the nail.

CUT TO:

INT. HIS BEDROOM -- AFTERNOON

Neville sits on a stool before a whirling emery stone sharpening dowel rods. As he works, the music of Beethoven's Third symphony can be over loudspeakers. The music echo's through every room of the house.

ANGLE ON NEVILLE'S FACE

He's meticulous in his work, his eyes never leaving his job. He inspects the now sharpened rod and places it with the other stakes on his table. Neville's looks up at the clock hanging on the wall. Four thirty.

CUT TO:

INT. KATHY'S ROOM -- AFTERNOON

The large industrial freezer opens and we see Neville look inside, as if looking into a coffin at the body of a friend. His jaded eyes move over the stacks of meats down to the frozen vegetables, down to the frozen breads and pastries, the fruits and the ice cream.

He picks out two lamb chops, string beans, and a small box of orange sherbet. He closes the lid.

He looks around a corner of the room that is crowded with various stacks of canned goods. He selects a tomato juice and heads for the door.

Behind his back, he can hear what sounds like a music box playing. He stops for a moment. Behind him, out of focus, we see that the freezer and various canned goods are gone. The room now looks like one that obviously used to belong to a little girl, his daughter.

Neville stands there motionless. Without looking back, he shuts off the light and closes the door.

CUT TO:

INT. KITCHEN -- EVENING

Neville dumps the groceries on to the kitchen counter, his eyes moving back to the clock. Twenty to six.

He pours a little water into a small pan and clanks it down on the stove burner. He tosses the pork chops into the broiler.

The water in the pan comes to a boil. He dumps the frozen string beans into them covers it. Neville steps out of the kitchen.

CUT TO:

EXT. THE HOUSE -- EVENING

Neville walks onto the neglected lawn, staring down the street. The grayness of the sky hasn't changed much, only grown darker. A cool night breeze ruffles his hair.

CUT TO:

INT. THE HOUSE -- NIGHT

Neville closes the front door. He first locks the door, then places a wooden plank on the upper portion of the door and the lower.

CUT TO:

INT. DINING ROOM -- NIGHT

Neville sits down to his dinner of lamb chops and string beans. He pours the tomato juice into an empty glass.

In the distance, the sound of banging can be heard over the Beethoven. A voice can be heard clearly. It's mans voice yelling:

MAN'S VOICE

Come out, Neville! Come out!

Neville takes a deep sign and begins to eat his dinner. We pull away slowly, leaving Neville to eat beneath the chandelier in the dining room, surrounding him like a warm blanket. As we move into the darkness, the Beethoven fades and the screaming and banging outside grow louder and louder. The sound is nearly deafening.

FADE TO:

SUPERTITLE ON BLACK BACKGROUND: "JANUARY, 1976"

CUT TO:

INT. LIVING ROOM -- NIGHT

Neville sits, trying to read. He's poured himself a drink and takes a sip from it. From the speaker over the hallway door, the music of Schonberg plays loudly.

It's not enough though. Murmuring, snarling, fighting. All these goings on are clearly heard from the inside. The thud of a brick hitting the house.

He turns the page. It's obvious he's trying to ignore it and failing.

He puts his book down at stares at the rug. He closes his eyes.

CUT TO:

INT. FRONT DOOR -- FLASHBACK

Looking out the peephole, a little door, of his front door. People, their faces ashen, as if the bubonic plague had beset them, are banging on the door and the walls of his house. They move relatively slowly, but deliberately. A woman strikes a lude pose in an attempt to get him to leave the house. It's obvious she was attractive once, but her appearance now only sparks revulsion.

CUT TO:

INT. LIVING ROOM -- MOMENTS LATER

Neville shakes his head, pulling us from his memory. A shudder runs through him. He picks his book back up.

NEVILLE

(under his breath, to himself)

... to empty, in the left shoulder region,

near the thorax, into a large vein of

the blood circulating system.

The books snaps shut.

CUT TO:

INT. HIS BEDROOM -- NIGHT

The moaning of the outside continues. Neville puts on pajama bottoms. His body is that of someone who is athletic, but not overly so.

CUT TO:

INT. BATHROOM - NIGHT

Neville brushes his teeth, then flosses. He inspects his gums in the mirror.

CUT TO:

INT. THE HOUSE -- NIGHT

Neville walks through the house, shutting off the lights. The banging and moaning of the individuals outside is still clear. Neville checks the shotgun he has leaning next to the front door. The man's voice is the clearest: "Come out, Neville! Come out!" He returns the shotgun to its resting place and turns off the living room lamp.

CUT TO:

INT. HIS BEDROOM -- NIGHT

Neville looks with disgust at his bed. It's covered with sawdust. He shakes the top sheet clean and climbs into bed. He grabs his earplugs from the bedside table and inserts them in his ears.

The sound of noises outside cut in half as one of the plugs is inserted. As the second plug is put in, the noises all but dissipate completely. He reaches over and turns out the lamp.

DISSOLVE TO:

INT. HIS BEDROOM -- MORNING

ANGLE ON THE ALARM

The second hand clicks over and the alarm goes off. It's a dull hum to us, just as it is for Neville.

ANGLE ON NEVILLE

Neville rolls over and hits the alarm. He sits up in his bed and pulls out his ear plugs. The moaning and banging of the night before is gone.

CUT TO:

INT. LIVING ROOM -- MORNING

Neville looks out the peep hole of his front door. There's only a few of them, moaning and muttering. They are all moving slowly, back to where they came from, before the sun actually creeps over the horizon. Neville closes the peep hole.

CUT TO:

INT. HIS BEDROOM -- MORNING

Neville switches on the lamp next to his bed and dresses. As he pulls his shirt on he hears the same man's voice from the night before yell the familiar chant: "Come out, Neville!" Neville pauses for a moment. The room is silent. He here's shuffling outside, moving away from the house. He continues dressing.

CUT TO:

INT. KITCHEN -- MORNING

Neville sits at his breakfast table, drinking his coffee and eating his toast. He looks over his to do list for the day. It reads: "Lathe at Sears, Water, check generator, doweling (?), usual".

CUT TO:

EXT. THE HOUSE -- MORNING

Neville steps out the front door. He looks up at the sky. It's clear, virtually cloudless.

He crosses the porch. A body is sprawled out on the sidewalk, white and ashen. Another is concealed in the shrubbery. Both are of women.

Neville walks over and unlocks the garage door to reveal his Dodge Aspen station wagon. He climbs inside and starts the engine. It purs like a pussycat. He gets back out and walks over to the woman on the sidewalk.

Neville pulls a handkerchief from his back pocket and ties it around his face. He then puts on gloves, picks the body up by the shoulders.

CUT TO:

INT. GARAGE -- MOMENTS LATER

Neville closes the gate on the station wagon, the two pairs of feet in the back disappearing behind it.

CUT TO:

INT. HIS BEDROOM -- CONTINUOUS

Neville puts the stakes he made from last night in a bag. He picks up a tool belt, the only tool attached a mallet, and buckles it around his waste. He then takes the remaining stakes that were on table and puts a them in special slots on his belt. He picks up the bag, and he's out the door.

CUT TO:

EXT. THE STATION WAGON -- DAY

Neville drives down Compton Boulevard. He makes a quick right and heads east. The houses that line the boulevard, the buildings that he passes and the cars that line the streets are all barren, abandoned. A number of the cars have giant X's varying in color on them. It's a ghost town.

Neville's eyes shift to his fuel gauge: half a tank. He makes a left on the next street.

CUT TO:

EXT. STREET -- DAY

Neville kneels, sucking on a tube. It's other end is in the gas tank of a car. Neville sucks until the amber fluid comes gushing out. It invades his mouth and he spits it out, choking on the harsh taste. The sticks his end in a gas can next to him.

NEVILLE

God... I gotta find a better

way of doing that...

Neville stands and steps back to the station wagon. He pulls a can of spray paint out and makes a large X on the car. He then takes a map out of his back pocket. It's a map of the neighborhood. There are numbers written down next to each street. Many have multiple numbers that have been crossed out. He pulls a pen out of his pocket, crosses out the number next to a street and write the new number: 29.

CUT TO:

EXT. STREET -- DAY

Neville drives again. More empty streets. In the distance, an extremely large fire can be seen. Neville continues down Compton Boulevard directly toward the fire.

CUT TO:

EXT. THE FIRE -- DAY

The fire is enormous. It is a gigantic pit, the size of a football field. Neville parks his car. He quickly gets out and walks to the back of the station wagon. He flips down the gate and drags the first body out.

He dumps it over the edge and it tumbles till it settles on the great pile of smoldering ashes at the bottom. He steps back to the station wagon and grabs the ankles of the other body.

CUT TO:

INT. THE STATION WAGON -- DAY

Neville is looking at his list as he drives down the street.

NEVILLE

Lathe at Sears...

He puts the list away. He then reaches inside the glove compartment and pulls out a flask. He takes a swig. He then pulls out a cigarette and lights it.

As he drives, he notices a small market coming up on the right. He looks back at the list and sees "water". He looks back and the market and pulls into the parking lot.

CUT TO:

INT. SMALL MARKET -- DAY

Neville enters through the front door. He's cautious, moving slowly. He walks down the aisles, aware that someone might be hidden somewhere among them.

He finds the bottled water.

ANGLE ON A FLIGHT OF STAIRS

at the back of the market. Neville stares at it for a moment. Feeling safe enough, he begins to grab the bottled water.

CUT TO:

EXT. THE STATION WAGON -- DAY

Neville closes the gate again, the back filled with many bottles of water, alcohol, and cartons of cigarettes. He turns to the market.

CUT TO:

INT. SMALL MARKET -- CONTINUOUS

Neville looks once more down the short stretch of aisles to the stairs at the back of the store. A cigarette dangles from his mouth. He takes a large drag, then puts it out under foot. He pulls a stake and the mallet from his tool belt. He heads toward the stairs.

CUT TO:

INT. APARTMENT ABOVE SMALL MARKET -- MOMENTS LATER

Neville steps through the apartment door. The small apartment is sparsely decorated, and like all house's in this world, desperately in need of a cleaning.

Just then, moving slightly, he notices A WOMAN IN A RED HOUSE COAT. Her chest rises and falls slowly. She sleeps, if that can be called what something like her is doing. Her faces is ashen and covered in sores, like the others.

Neville approaches her. He kneels next to her. He breathes deeply for a moment. He quickly takes the stake, places it over her chest and drives it home with the mallet. As the mallet slams down...

CUT TO:

INT. APARTMENT ABOVE SMALL MARKET - A BEDROOM -- MOMENTS LATER

Neville steps through the bedrooms door. It's a classic little boys room with baseball posters on the wall and toys strewn about the room. The owner of the room, A SMALL BOY, lies unmoving on his race car bed.

Neville pulls another stake from his belt.

ANGLE FROM JUST OUTSIDE THE BEDROOM DOOR

Neville reaches back and closes the door.

CUT TO:

EXT. THE STATION WAGON -- DAY

Neville drives down the street, heading toward Sears. The only sound is the wind as it blows past his window and the growling of the station wagons engine. In the distance, the Sears can be seen.

CUT TO:

EXT. SEARS PARKING LOT -- DAY

Neville walks out the broken glass of the front doors of Sears carrying the lathe. He pushes it through the window of the passenger side of the wagon. He then reaches into the back seat and pulls out the bag of wooden stakes. He loads the empty slots on his belt.

CUT TO:

EXT. SEARS PARKING LOT -- LATER

Neville steps out again through the broken glass.

ANGLE ON HIS BELT

The filled slots are empty.

PAN UP NEVILLE'S BODY

He's breathing more deeply, tired from the obvious confrontation he just had in the Sears. As the pan moves up his body, we reach his face, which has a fresh cut down the side of his cheek.

His expression belies how rattled he is. They don't come at him like that often. At the station wagon, he stops and has a cigarette. He looks at his watch. Two-o'clock.

CUT TO:

EXT. THE PARK -- DAY

Neville sits at a picnic table in the park. The scenic view is spectacular. The rest of the world may have gone to hell, but this patch of God's earth remains relatively untouched. The only problem is that there is total silence. A park that would normally have birds flying overhead or other animals rustling is dead with silence, the wind only whispering past Neville's ears.

Neville eats his lunch mindlessly, staring in the distance. He's here, but not. Life has become monotonous. He does the same kind of thing everyday and it's clear on his face.

CUT TO:

EXT. THE STATION WAGON -- LATER

Neville places his lunch pale in the front seat. He pulls the bag of stakes out of the back of the car and looks inside.

ANGLE ON THE BAG

It's full.

CUT TO:

INT. GARAGE -- AFTERNOON

Neville pulls into the garage. We return to the same shot of the bag, only at a different venue. The bag is empty.

CUT TO:

INT. LIVING ROOM -- NIGHT

Neville sits in his chair in the living room, reading. The book is "Dracula". "The Age of Anxiety" by Bernstein plays in the background.

We hear his mumbling of the words softly again.

NEVILLE

...The strength of the vampire is

that no one will believe in him...

Neville takes a sip from his drink. He closes his eyes as the cold liquor trickles down his throat and warms his stomach.

Neville thinks back to that afternoon.

FLASHBACK: Neville hovers over the Woman in the red coat. Everything is moving in slow motion. Neville is making the same motion he did before, putting the stake over the Woman's chest and bringing down the mallet. But this time as he does, we see that the woman's eyes have been open the whole time and as he brings the mallet home.

FLASHBACK: Time moves slightly fast, as Neville walks over to the bed and puts a stake in the Boys chest.

FLASHBACK: Time is moving fast than normal, as Neville fights off six Vampires on his own. He parries and punches and hits with the grace of a ballet dancer.

Neville returns to reality and tosses the book across the room. He sits quietly for a few minutes.

Outside, the living dead have arrived. With them, the voice of the man crying for him.

MAN'S VOICE

Come out, Neville! Come out!

Neville rises from his chair. He walks to the front door and unbolts it. He opens it. A legion of the dead grab at him and push their way in. The climb on top of him and rip and tear at him. His throat lets a blood curdling scream out.

CUT TO:

INT. LIVING ROOM -- NIGHT

Same as before. Neville sits in his chair. His giving his life over to the dead was just a passing thought.

Neville shrugs and pours more whiskey. He sinks back into his chair, as we rise above him and spin around. The banging and voices outside rise slowly until they crescendo with Neville's hand breaking the glass.

Neville sits up and looks, dull-eyed, at the fragments on the floor... in his hand.

CUT TO:

INT. BATHROOM -- NIGHT

Neville pours cold water from a pitcher over his hand into the sink. He pulls a piece of glass from his skin. It's painful, something he only acknowledges slightly.

CUT TO:

INT. LIVING ROOM -- LATER

Neville pours another glass with his good hand. He raises it and drinks from it heavily. He walks over and sits at his desk, opening his journal. He opens the desk drawer and pulls out a pen. He begins to write.

NEVILLE

Why, then, this unkind prejudice,

this thoughtless bias? Why can not

the vampire live where he chooses?

Why must he seek out hiding places

where none can find him out? Why do you

wish him destroyed? He has no means

of support, no measures for proper

education, he has not the voting

franchise. No wonder he is compelled to

seek out a predatory nocturnal existence.

Neville grunts a surly grunt.

NEVILLE

Sure. But would you want one to marry your sister?

MAN'S VOICE

Come out, Neville!

CUT TO:

INT. LIVING ROOM -- LATER

Neville is pacing, debating. The noises outside call to him. Neville walks over to the front door and peers through the peep hole.

Male vampires scratch and bang on the walls. Female vampires, half dressed, some naked, flaunt themselves at the peephole.

Neville's mind flashes from what they were (normal human women) to what they have become (the dead).

Neville is at odds with himself. How long can one many endure such a solitary confinement?

Neville reaches down and lifts the top cross bar off the door. Through the peep hole, Neville sees the dead rise into a torrent of desire, anxious for him to open the door and let them in.

Neville pauses. He stares at the door and the dead waiting to eat him. The world begins to spin, slowly at first then faster. Neville slumps to his knees.

Neville screams.

NEVILLE

STOP!

It does. Everything is silent. Neville looks up at the door. Through rough shod tears, he sees the dead still moving and clawing, but he can't hear them. He's blocked them out.

Neville picks up the cross bar and puts it back in place. He closes the peephole.

FADE TO BLACK

FADE IN:

INT. HIS BEDROOM - THE PAST -- NIGHT

A dust storm can be heard whirling outside. We pan over the contents of the room. The family photos, the paintings. Personal things.

We see Neville turning in his bed. He can't sleep. The hissing sound of the storm, the whirlwind of granulation. Neville turns over and looks at his clock. Four o'clock. He rolls over. He faces his wife, VIRGINIA.

She sits upright in the bed, lost in thought.

NEVILLE

What's the matter?

Virginia doesn't answer.

NEVILLE

Honey?

VIRGINIA

Nothing. Go to sleep.

NEVILLE

How do you feel?

VIRGINIA

The same.

NEVILLE

Oh... well...

He rolls back over and closes his eyes.

CUT TO:

INT. HIS BEDROOM -- MORNING

Neville lays motionless on his bed, like his body was made of cast iron. He opens his eyes and looks at his alarm clock. Ten o'clock.

Neville rises, dropping his legs over one side of the bed, muttering to himself.

NEVILLE

Great. A hang over.

CUT TO:

INT. BATHROOM -- CONTINUOUS

Neville splash's water on his face and some over his head from a bucket nearby.

NEVILLE

No good. This is no good.

CUT TO:

EXT. THE HOUSE -- MORNING

Neville steps out the front door. Another female body onto he sidewalk.

He looks at the horizon. Grey and overcast.

NEVILLE

FUUUUUCCCKKKKK! FUCK FUCK

FUCK FUCK! FUUUUUUCCCCKKKKKK!

CUT TO:

INT. KITCHEN -- MORNING

Neville drinks his coffee. He opens and closes his injured hand, examining the wound and blood, his frustration clear on his face.

CUT TO:

INT. LIVING ROOM -- MORNING

Neville walks into the living room from the kitchen. He stares at his liquor bottles.

He walks over and curls up on the couch, shaking his head. Like a wild caged animal, the thought of staying in doors for a whole day and evening is not something he looks forward to.

NEVILLE

Fuck it.

Neville rises.

CUT TO:

EXT. GARAGE -- MORNING

The garage door opens. Neville pulls out in the station wagon, tearing into the street. He presses down hard on the accelerator and races toward Compton Boulevard.

CUT TO:

EXT. STREET -- DAY

Neville races down the street. He takes a turn at forty miles an hour, almost too fast, but the car doesn't skid or turn over.

INT. THE STATION WAGON -- CONTINUOUS

Neville's hands are like carved ice on the wheel. His leg is stiff on the accelerator.

The speedometer rises from 65 to 75.

CUT TO:

EXT. STREET -- CONTINUOUS

Neville roars down the street in his station wagon, the only sound to be heard.

CUT TO:

EXT. CEMETERY -- DAY

The headstones are different shades of grey, black and white. The grass is high, much higher than one would ever see at a normal cemetery. It bends crunches beneath Neville's sneakers. A short distance from him we see a crypt.

As Neville draws closer, he sees that the door is slightly ajar. When he sees this, he breaks into a slow trot. Upon full realization, he runs.

CUT TO:

INT. CEMETERY CRYPT -- DAY

From the inside we see Neville fling the door of the crypt open. It clangs against the marble wall with a hollow, echoing sound.

His eyes and our view move quickly to a marble base in which a sealed casket rests.

Neville takes a deep breath, relieved. There's a slight rustle. Neville tightens again.

He steps to the side and looks behind the coffin. A MAN lies in the corner, his body curled up on the cold floor.

With a grunt of rage Neville rushes over to the body, grabs the man by his coat and drags him across the floor. The man kicks and fights.

CUT TO:

EXT. CEMETERY CRYPT -- CONTINUOUS

Neville drags the body into the light. The ashen man screams in pain as Neville dumps his body onto the grass. Neville re-enters the crypt, closing the door behind him.

CUT TO:

INT. CEMETERY CRYPT -- CONTINUOUS

Neville reenters. He takes a deep breath, then walks over to the casket and lays his palms on the casket. After a few moments he kneels, resting his forehead on the cold casket.

NEVILLE

Virginia. Take me where you are.

A tear falls across his motionless hand...

CUT TO:

INT. CEMETERY CRYPT -- LATER

Time has passed. Neville is asleep. He wakes with a start. He looks around, wiping his mouth. Neville looks down at his watch: three o'clock.

CUT TO:

EXT. CEMETERY CRYPT -- CONTINUOUS

Neville steps from the crypt. He looks around at the horizon. Still overcast. He heads for the station wagon.

He stumbles, nearly falling over. He's tripped on the body of the man he cast from the crypt. He'd forgotten about the man.

He stares at the body for a moment. Something different. He's dead now... but really dead. The man looks and smells like a corpse that had been rotting in the sun for days.

Neville kicks the body over. It rolls over, revealing that maggots had already begun to eat at the mans flesh.

NEVILLE

What...

Neville looks at the horizon. The sky hasn't cleared. It's still grey and overcast, but warm.

NEVILLE

UV... UV... whoo hoo!

Neville breaks into a run back to the station wagon.

CUT TO:

INT. THE STATION WAGON -- CONTINUOUS

Neville turns over the engine, throws the car in reverse and speeds off.

NEVILLE

Gotta test it.

He scans the houses, looking for some sign of life. He pulls over.

CUT TO:

EXT. A HOUSE -- DAY

Neville runs up to a house and attempts to open the front door of the house. It's locked.

He runs to the next house over. It's unlocked. He enters.

CUT TO:

INT. A HOUSE -- DAY

Neville enters the house. It's dark. He scans the room and heads for the hallway. He finds the door to the bedroom.

CUT TO:

INT. BEDROOM OF HOUSE -- DAY

The door opens.

ANGLE ON NEVILLE

ANGLE ON BED

There's a lump, as if someone is sleeping underneath the covers. Neville walks over and flips the covers off the bed. A WOMAN sleeps, naked.

Neville hesitates. In his minds eye we see her flash from the ashen faced creature before him, to the beautiful woman she used to be, and back to the creature. He flinches, then walks over and grabs her by the wrists.

CUT TO:

INT. LIVING ROOM OF THE HOUSE -- DAY

The Woman begins to writhe and flop in his grip. Her hands close around his wrists and tear at his flesh.

Her dark nails dig into his wrists. He lets her go. She begins to crawl away. Neville grabs her by her ankles and drags her to the front door. She scratches at the floor, and grabs at whatever she can reach.

Neville gets her to the door. She tries to hold onto the jams, but the light is too much for her and she moves her arms to block her face, easily allowing Neville to take her outside.

CUT TO:

EXT. A HOUSE -- CONTINUOUS

The Woman writhes and twists on the lawn. Neville shutters slightly at the sound of strangled horror that escapes her throat. Neville watches intently as a chef would monitor a roast.

The Woman scrambles to her hands and knees and tries to crawl away. Startled, Neville runs over and kicks her in the head, dropping her to the ground again.

She continues to shake, muttering, until she comes to rest still, her hands uncurled like white blossoms.

Neville crouches down and feels for a heart beat. None. Her flesh is already growing cold.

CUT TO:

EXT. PARKING LOT -- DAY

Neville sits behind the wheel, reliving the events of what just transpired in his head.

NEVILLE

Finally found a better way...

Neville looks at his watch. Three o'clock. Plenty of time. Neville looks more closely at his watch. The seconds hand isn't moving. He puts the watch to his ear. It's stopped.

Terror grips Neville.

CUT TO:

EXT. STREET -- AFTERNOON

Neville races down the street as if a fire was lit on the back of the station wagon.

CUT TO:

INT. THE STATION WAGON -- CONTINUOUS

The speedometer is hitting seventy-five.

NEVILLE

(quickly)

Shit, shit, shit, shit,

shit, shit, shit, shit, shit...

Neville pulls up just down the block from the house. There they are, just in front of his house, waiting.

He takes a deep sigh. He looks in the review mirror. More are walking down the street.

NEVILLE

Damn it.

The ones at the house have heard the engine or the other vampires coming. It doesn't matter. The ones at the house know he's back. More come out of the open garage.

NEVILLE

Here lies Robert Neville. Widower, father,

idiot who died because he forgot to wind his watch.

An impulsive plan enters his mind. He puts his foot the gas, and heads for the house.

CUT TO:

EXT. STREET -- EVENING

The car moves at only five miles an hour. The vampires follow, chasing along side the station wagon, trying to break the glass to get in.

CUT TO:

INT. THE STATION WAGON -- EVENING

Neville is nervous, but determined. A familiar voice can he heard outside the station wagon:

MAN'S VOICE

Neville! Come out Neville!

Neville looks to his right and sees his friend, BEN CORTMAN, running along side the station wagon. Neville is noticeably disturbed and saddened.

NEVILLE

Ben...

Neville speeds up and moves in front of them. The dead can't keep up.

Neville, without stopping swings the car around and proceeds to mow down the people in his way, Ben among them.

He races back to the house. He hits the curb, blowing one of the tires on the car. He tries to drive it inside, but can't. He gets out of the car, abandoning it.

CUT TO:

EXT. THE HOUSE -- NIGHT

Neville gets out of the wagon. He runs toward the garage. Cortman appears from nowhere, driving his body into Neville's and almost knocking him down. The two of them go reeling backward toward the sidewalk, Cortman's white-fanged mouth darting down at Neville's throat.

Neville fights back, driving his right fist into Cortman's throat.

Around the corner, the first of them comes rushing and screaming around the corner.

Neville grabs Cortman by his long, greasy hair and rams his head into the station wagon.

Neville looks at the approaching vampires, looks at the garage, then looks at the front door of the house, then back to the garage.

NEVILLE

Fuck it.

Neville runs for the front door. He gets there. It's locked.

NEVILLE

Shit!

Without mental debate he turns back around and runs for the station wagon.

Cortman is just getting up as Neville reaches him. Neville decks him, knocking him to the side.

Neville reaches inside the driver's side window and grabs the keys from the ignition.

Neville runs back to the house. He stops at the door to find the right key. ANOTHER VAMPIRE slams into him, knocking him against the front door.

Neville fights the man off, then takes the right key and unlocks the front door. He hurries inside.

CUT TO:

INT. THE HOUSE -- NIGHT

Neville slams the door, but AN ARM shoots in, blocking the door from closing. ANOTHER ARM SHOOTS IN. Neville leans against the door, holding back the gathering hoard.

He picks up the shot gun that's leaning next to the door. He let's the door fly open, then lays multiple blasts into the vampires in the door way. When he stops firing, through the smoke, he sees the vampires on the ground on the porch.

Neville pauses for a moment, thinking he might have actually killed them with just a gun. THEY move and begin to rise. YET ANOTHER VAMPIRE comes charging out of the darkness. Neville kicks the door shut. He hurry's to lock and bar the door.

The knocking and slamming returns. The same as always.

CORTMAN

Come out, Neville! Come out!

Neville turns his back and leans against the door. He slides down onto the floor. He begins to sob.

NEVILLE

Virginia... Virginia... _Virginia..._

END ACT ONE

ACT TWO

INT. HIS BEDROOM - THE PAST -- MORNING

The alarm goes off at six-thirty. Neville reaches over and presses the button, flopping around looking for it in the process. Neville rolls back over. Virginia sits in the same position he left her in before.

NEVILLE

What is it?

VIRGINIA

I don't know. I just can't sleep.

NEVILLE

Why?

She makes an indecisive sound.

NEVILLE

Still feel weak?

VIRGINIA

I don't think I can move.

Neville sits up.

NEVILLE

Stay there, hon. Don't move.

Neville puts his hand against her forehead.

NEVILLE

You haven't got a fever.

VIRGINIA

I don't feel sick. Just... tired.

NEVILLE

You look at little pale though.

VIRGINIA

I look like a ghost.

Virginia gets up.

NEVILLE

Don't get up.

VIRGINIA

I'm not going to pamper myself.

Go ahead, get dressed. I'll be all right.

NEVILLE

You shouldn't get up if you don't feel good, honey.

She pats his arm and kisses his forehead.

VIRGINIA

I'll be all right. You get ready.

CUT TO:

INT. KATHY'S ROOM -- DAY

Neville's head pokes in through the doorway. He enters. KATHY, his daughter, a little girl with blonde hair and a heavenly face, sleeps motionless in her bed. Neville smiles and pets her face.

CUT TO:

INT. KITCHEN -- DAY

Neville enters the kitchen.

NEVILLE

I wish these damn storms would end.

All this dust...

Virginia sits at the table, quietly. On the stove, coffee is percolating, but nothing else.

NEVILLE

Sweetheart, if you don't feel well, go back to bed.

I'll make breakfast.

VIRGINIA

It's all right. I was just resting.

I'm sorry. I'll get up and fry you some eggs.

NEVILLE

Stay there. I'm not hopeless.

Neville moves to the refrigerator and begins to gather the necessary things to make breakfast.

VIRGINIA

I'd like to know what it is that's going around. Half the people on the block have it.

NEVILLE

More than half at the plant.

VIRGINIA

Maybe it's some kind of virus.

NEVILLE

I don't know. Between the storms and the mosquitoes and everyone been sick, life is rapidly becoming a pain. And speak of the devil...

Neville pulls a glass from the cupboard. It has dust inside of it. Neville goes to the sink and rinses the glass out.

NEVILLE

Juice?

VIRGINIA

None for me, thanks.

Neville pours some juice into a glass and puts it down in front of her. She rolls her eyes, picks up the glass, and takes a sip.

NEVILLE

You don't feel any pain? No headache, nothing?

VIRGINIA

(shaking her head)

I wish I _did_ know what was wrong.

NEVILLE

You should call up Dr. Bunch today.

VIRGINIA

I will.

She begins to rise, straining as she does. Neville walks over and keeps her sitting.

NEVILLE

You stay there, sweetheart.

VIRGINIA

(slightly angry)

But there's no reason I should be like this.

NEVILLE

You want me to help you back to bed?

VIRGINIA

No, just let me sit here with you. I'll go back to bed after Kathy goes to school.

NEVILLE

All right. Don't you want something though?

VIRGINIA

No.

NEVILLE

You're really going to get sick if you don't eat.

VIRGINIA

I'm just not hungry.

Virginia waves her hand weakly in front of her face.

VIRGINIA

Oh God.

NEVILLE

What?

VIRGINIA

A mosquito.

He moves over and crushes it between his hands.

VIRGINIA

Mosquitoes, flies, sand fleas...

NEVILLE

We're entering the age of the insect.

VIRGINIA

It's not good. They carry disease. We ought to put a net around Kathy's bed.

NEVILLE

I know. I know. I keep meaning to.

VIRGINIA

I don't think that spray works.

NEVILLE

It doesn't?

VIRGINIA

No.

NEVILLE

And it's supposed to be one of the best ones on the market. Sure you don't want some coffee?

VIRGINIA

No thank you.

NEVILLE

I hope to hell we're not breeding a race of super bugs. You remember that strain of grasshoppers they found in Colorado?

VIRGINIA

Yes.

NEVILLE

Maybe their insects... what's the word? Mutating?

VIRGINIA

Bob, do you think you should go to work?

He smiles, helplessly.

NEVILLE

Is there anything you want before I go?

Virginia shakes her head.

NEVILLE

Stay inside today... and in bed...

VIRGINIA

I will. As soon as I send Kathy off.

Neville kisses her. A car horn outside.

NEVILLE

Take it easy, ok.

VIRGINIA

Be careful.

NEVILLE

(smiling)

Always am.

Neville exits the kitchen.

CUT TO:

EXT. STREET -- MORNING

Neville strides across his front lawn. Dogs bark and birds chirp. The street is anytown America. Neville arrives at the curb. He gets into a waiting car.

CUT TO:

INT. CAR -- MORNING

Neville closes the door. He turns to his left.

NEVILLE

Morning, Ben.

CORTMAN

Morning.

Cortman puts the car into drive.

CUT TO:

SUPERTITLE ON BLACK: "MARCH, 1976"

INT. LIVING ROOM -- DAY

Neville stands, hammer swinging, adding sound board to the wall. He's hammering the last few nails into the board. He steps back to view his work. We see the whole wall now has sound board covering it. We pan larger and see the whole room has it.

CUT TO:

Neville paints the walls with a brush, a light blue, baby blue.

CUT TO:

Neville arranges the furniture in the living room. He's picked new places for everything. New color, new look.

CUT TO:

INT. FRONT DOOR -- NIGHT

Neville stands, facing the front door. He looks at his watch. Eight O'Clock.

NEVILLE

Ok. Let's begin.

Neville opens the peep hole in the door. Cortman is there.

CORTMAN

Neville. Come out, Neville.

Neville reaches over and picks up the holy cross from an end table next to the door. It has many religious symbols on it. A crucifix, a rosary, the Star of David, etc.

Neville holds the cross up to the peep hole for Cortman to see. Cortman doesn't flinch. He continues to call out.

CORTMAN

Neville.

CORTMAN AND NEVILLE

Come out, Neville.

NEVILLE

You, my friend, are a broken record.

Neville sets the cross down and picks up the crucifix. He holds it to the peep hole. Cortman isn't stunned. Neville sets it back down.

NEVILLE

Well, Jesus isn't doing it

for you. How about Moses?

Neville picks up the Star of David and holds it up to the peephole. Cortman shrinks back, apparently horrified. He exits into the night.

NEVILLE

That's interesting.

LATER we see the table has squirt guns covering it, the religious symbols are gone. They are all labeled. "Garlic", "Onion", "Red Peppers", etc. Neville picks up the one labeled "Garlic". He puts his nose to the end of it, sniffing it. He points the gun out the peep hole. A nameless vampire stands hissing and scratching.

Neville pulls the trigger. A stream of concentrated garlic juice hits the vampire square in the face. The vampire falls back enraged.

CUT TO:

INT. LIVING ROOM -- NIGHT

Neville sits at his writing desk, journal open, pen working fast and furious. A glass of liquor sits next to him, a cigarette in the ashtray still smoking.

NEVILLE

... The Cross and crucifix seem to

only affect those who's religious

background was Christian, while others,

such as those who practiced Judaism, are

affected by symbols pertaining to their faith. David Goldstein from down the street seemed particularly affected by the Star of David. Garlic concentrate also seems to do more than just repulse, which might explain why fresh garlic holds them back. The smell must agitate their sense of smell a great deal. All this leaves me just asking more questions...

Neville sets down the pen. He takes a sip from his drink.

CUT TO:

EXT. THE HOUSE - FRONT LAWN -- MORNING

The sun is beginning to rise. It hasn't crept over the houses yet, but you can tell the sun is coming.

The vampires are walking away from Neville's house. They know the sun is coming. One vampire, a male, straggles a bit, limping especially hard on one leg.

The front door opens. Quickly, yet quietly, Neville sprints out, shotgun in hand. He cracks the STRAGGLING VAMPIRE in the back of the head with the butt of his shotgun. The vampire falls face forward.

Neville looks around. The other vampires haven't noticed. He grabs the fallen vampire by his ankles and drags him toward the house.

CUT TO:

INT. KITCHEN -- DAY

Neville has pulled the shades on all the windows. The lights are very dim. Neville has tied the male vampire to the table, face up.

Neville stands in the corner, smoking a cigarette, holding a drink. Neville takes a last puff, then puts his cigarette out in a nearby ashtray. He takes a last sip from his drink. He picks up a syringe, sitting on the kitchen counter. He walks over to the restrained vampire.

NEVILLE

All right. Let's go to work.

Neville sticks the needle in the vampire's vein.

JUMP TO

Neville sets a large, wooden box of various types of knives (carving, hunting, etc.) onto a table next to the strapped down vampire. He pulls one from the box and turns toward the vampire.

CUT TO:

INT. LIVING ROOM -- DAY

Neville writes in his journal. We pan slowly around him as he writes, beginning from behind him.

NEVILLE

Injection of concentrated garlic

into the blood stream of the vampire

seems to have no affect on it. Garlic,

as a type of acid or lethal injection,

is not effective. The smell seems to

only irritate and drive them away. In addition, wounds that would only inflict

a large single puncture wound seem to be effective for killing the vampire, in addition to sunlight, or UV rays, directed into the eyes. The nerve endings in the "vampires" body seem to be dead. Upon penetration, a slight shock of the event

is apparent, though any further sign of

pain or discomfort was not noticed. Numerous stabs and gunshots to the body

were performed to no avail. A sort of blood, followed by a gooey glue seems to form around the holes, filling them. Little blood can be found. But a large blow to almost any portion of the body will result in almost immediate death.

As we slowly come to a rest in front of Neville we see behind him that the vampire on the table has multiple knives, two dozen or more, stabbed into his body. The body is still moving slightly, as if in a restless sleep. Neville sets down his pen and picks up his stake and mallet. He rises, turning his back to us, and heads toward the vampire.

CUT TO:

INT. THE HOT HOUSE -- DAY

Neville works with the plants. He has a small shovel in his bare hand, and he kneads the soil. He actually looks like he's enjoying himself, the first glimmer of a smile we've seen on his face.

He picks up a small amount of dirt in his hand, letting it fall through his fingers.

FLASH to his mind seeing a vampire crawling out of a fresh grave.

Neville's back in his hot house.

NEVILLE

Maybe. Maybe, at that.

CUT TO:

INT. FRONT DOOR -- NIGHT

Neville stares out the peep hole. A man and two woman circle on the front lawn.

NEVILLE (V.O.)

They circle like vultures with no prey.

Mouths silent. Eyes hungry. Stare locked.

CUT TO:

INT. LIVING ROOM -- NIGHT

Neville sits, writing in his journal. We continue to hear his poetry.

NEVILLE (V.O.)

The dead walk and I think nothing of it.

Neville finish's again.

CUT TO:

INT. HIS BEDROOM - THE PAST -- MORNING

Neville lies in the bed. He sleeps, fitfully. He rolls over and faces Virginia. He eyes are far away and empty. Her heart has stopped.

Neville wakes and sees her.

NEVILLE

Honey?...

It hits him, finally. His composure crumbles.

Neville sits on the edge of his bed, his body immobile. His eyes don't blink, his mouth one static line.

Neville sits in a chair, on his side of the bed, staring into her eyes. He has a look of loss. Not loss. Lost. He's unsure of what do to next.

CUT TO:

EXT. CEMETERY - THE PAST -- DAY

Neville stands in front of Virginia's crypt, Kathy next to him, holding his hand, dressed in black.

NEVILLE (V.O.)

(deep breathing)

CUT TO:

EXT. STREET -- DAY

Neville jogs down the street sweat dripping from his brow. He looks trimmer, in better shape. His hair is long and unkempt, a beard beginning to form on his face.

A LEGEND: "July 1976"

Neville finishes his jog in front of his house. He slows to a walk, catching his breath, finally coming to a rest and bending over to take deep breaths.

Out of the corner of his eye, something moves. He has a quizzical look. He glances to the sun is high in the sky.

NEVILLE

What could...

A DOG pokes his head out of a bush. He's a long haired, shaggy dog, covered in dirt.

NEVILLE

Dogs don't... it killed the dogs...

The Dog creeps out more. Neville instinctively lowers him self down to one knee. He whistles, half heartedly at first, the air barely escaping his lips. He finds his air and gives a good dog calling whistle. The Dog turns his head, looking at Neville quizzically.

Neville continues whistling, but the dog doesn't move. Neville, frustrated, rises. This startles the dog.

NEVILLE

Wait... dont' go...

Neville's sudden movements startle the dog. He runs off. Neville chases after him.

NEVILLE

Wait! Come back! Don't run away!

Neville chases after the dog for a block or two before giving up.

NEVILLE

Shit... god fucking... shit...

CUT TO:

EXT. THE HOUSE - PORCH -- DAY

On the porch are two hamburgers sitting on a plate and a bowl of milk. Surrounding are strings of garlic cloves. Neville peers through the peep hole.

CUT TO:

INT. KITCHEN -- THE PAST -- DAY

Neville hovers over his kitchen counter, cutting various vegetables on a cutting board, the knife moving swiftly, as if he's trying to forget something but stay mindful of his task.

Kathy enters through the kitchen door, holding her teddy bear, dressed in overalls and a white t-shirt.

NEVILLE

Hey, baby. I thought you were watching TV?

KATHY

Is dinner ready?

NEVILLE

It will be in about twenty minutes.

KATHY

Are you making it how mommy used to make it?

NEVILLE

(voice cracking slightly)

I'm trying, baby. I'm trying. You go back and watch TV. Dinner will be ready in half an hour.

KATHY

Can we watch TV while we eat?

NEVILLE

Yeah, sure, sweetie. You go back now, ok?

Kathy smiles and runs out of the room.

CUT TO:

INT. THE HOUSE -- DAY

Neville peers through the peep hole at the food. He slams the peep hole door shut.

NEVILLE

A watched pot never boils.

He opens the peep hole door again to watch the pot.

Neville reads on his couch. His foot taps impatiently. He notices, and grabs his own knee.

Neville paces in the dining room.

Neville stares at his watch, drink in hand: ten o'clock. He opens the peep hole. Cortman.

NEVILLE

I hope you didn't eat him.

Behind Cortman, Neville can see two figures standing under the lamp post, their silhouetted posture standing out against the moonlit night. Upright and unmoving. Eerily human. Neville stares at them with a quizzical expression. They move away as Cortman arrives.

CORTMAN

Nev...

He closes the peep hole.

CUT TO:

INT. KATHY'S ROOM - PAST -- NIGHT

Neville enters, carrying his sleeping daughter in his arms. He places her gently on her bed. As he slips her under the covers, a loud bang can be heard against the side of the house. Neville is startled. He looks down at his sleeping daughter, then exits.

CUT TO:

EXT. FRONT DOOR -- DAY

Neville opens the front door. The food is gone, dragged through the garlic that surrounded it. The milk has been tipped over, slurped from with a hearty tongue.

Neville replenishes the food, placing more hamburger, a bowl of milk and this time a bowl of water.

Neville walks back in the house and closes the door.

CUT TO:

EXT. THE HOUSE - PORCH - PAST -- NIGHT

Neville walks on to the porch, carrying a bat. He looks out at the twilight. The street is quiet.

Neville looks down the road. He sees people walking down the street, a couple out for a late night stroll. But their movement is sluggish, their hands not locked in a lovers grasp. He looks at them quizzically. Neville walks out onto the lawn to get a closer look.

He sees in the distance what's wrong. Their faces have that familiar ashen color and ravaged skin, their gate a slow limp.

BANG.

Neville's head snaps in the direction of the sound, the noise startling. Neville grips his bat tightly and slowly walks around the side of the house.

Neville's steps are cautious and deliberate, a small amount of moonlight and ambient light from inside the house lighting his way. As he approaches, he sees a MAN, dressed in pajamas, ready for bed, bending over to pick up a brick. The Man is moving slowly, his face hidden, but his hands in clear view, ashen and white.

The Man rises and his face becomes clear. It's Ben Cortman.

NEVILLE

(barely escaping his mouth)

Ben?

Cortman stops upon hearing Neville. He looks over at Neville, their eyes meeting.

NEVILLE

Ben are you ok? What are you doing?

You should be in bed.

CORTMAN

Neville...

Cortman drops the brick and moves toward Neville, Neville replying in kind.

NEVILLE

Jesus, Ben. You look like shit.

How can you even walk?

As they grow closer, Neville notices Ben's walk. His feet dragging on the ground.

NEVILLE

Ben... Ben... let me help you…

CORTMAN

Neville...

Neville takes Cortman's hand.

NEVILLE

Come on, I'll take you home.

Jesus your hand is cold.

Cortman raises Neville hand and bites it hard. Neville screams, blood spilling from his hand. Neville swings his bat with his free hand, hitting Cortman on the head, knocking him down.

NEVILLE

What the hell is wrong with you?

Neville cradle's his bleeding hand. Behind Neville he can hear moaning. The two that he saw down the street before are heading for his front door. Neville runs to the front of the house.

Neville sees them just as they cross the threshold of the house. He runs up and grabs the closest one and tosses them out the door. He then grabs the other and throws them out as well. They both fall onto the grass. Neville runs inside and slams the door shut.

CUT TO:

INT. THE HOUSE -- DAY

Neville watches from the peephole, anxiously.

The dog arrives. He trots cautiously and slowly out from between two houses. Neville jumps to his feet and watches intently. He acts like it's a peep show, only the pay off will be better.

NEVILLE

Come on... come on...

The dog trots over to the food. Before the dogs eats, Neville opens the door. The dog scampers off, terrified.

NEVILLE

No wait! Damn it!

He goes back into the house and slams the door.

CUT TO:

INT. THE HOUSE - THE PAST -- NIGHT

Neville twists the deadbolt into position. He leans with his back against the door, his breath heavy and labored. BANG. A brick has struck the front door.

CORTMAN

Neville! Come out Neville!

CUT TO:

INT. THE HOUSE -- DAY

Neville waits again, patiently staring through the peep hole. The dog appears. Neville stands cautiously, careful not to make any noise as the dog eats the hamburger. Neville opens the door slowly. The dog takes notice, but does not run. The dog and Neville's eyes meet. Neville closes the door.

CUT TO:

EXT. THE HOUSE - PAST -- DAY

Neville is boarding up the window at the back of the house, the same one he boarded before.

KATHY

Daddy.

NEVILLE

(not turning, continuing with his work)

Yeah baby?

ANGLE ON NEVILLE, KATHY BEHIND HIM

KATHY

What are you doing?

NEVILLE

Boarding up these windows, baby.

KATHY

Why?

NEVILLE

For safety sweetie. For safety.

Kathy coughs.

NEVILLE

You feeling all right, sweetie?

KATHY

My chest hurts.

NEVILLE

Why don't you go inside and have some juice. I'll be in soon.

KATHY

Ok.

Kathy hurries inside. Neville watches as she goes.

CUT TO:

EXT. THE HOUSE - PORCH -- DAY

Neville sits with his back against the door. The dog appears again in the same place between the houses. The dog hovers, obviously afraid of Neville's presence.

The dog moves to the lawn, its eyes never leaving Neville.

NEVILLE

That's a good boy.

The dog moves up to the plate and begins to eat. Neville doesn't move.

CUT TO:

INT. SEARS - THE PAST -- DAY

Neville walks through the tools section of the Sears. Elevator music can be heard in the background. He stops and looks at a small generator, the one that will eventually be in his garage.

JUMP TO

Neville drags the generator toward the checkout counter. He stops at the counter. He stands, breathing deeply from dragging the generator, waiting for a clerk. He turns his head, scanning the store. He's alone.

NEVILLE

(through labored breaths)

Hello? Is anyone here?

No response. Neville glances down at his generator, looks up again to make sure no one is there, then grabs the generator's box and drags it toward the exit door.

CUT TO:

EXT. STREET -- DAY

Neville jogs down the street. The dog appears from between two houses and runs down the street with Neville. Neville smiles and the two begin to race. Neville reaches his porch first, the dog staying out on the front lawn.

Neville turns around, still smiling and opens his front door. He gestures for the dog to go inside.

NEVILLE

Come on boy... its ok...

The dog hovers on the lawn.

NEVILLE

I'm not going to hurt you.

The dog trots off. Neville's smile slowly fades. He steps inside.

CUT TO:

INT. THE GARAGE - THE PAST -- NIGHT

Neville sits Indian-style on the ground, the generator sitting in front of him as he thumbs through the manual. A loud THUMP can be heard on the roof, followed by constant scratching. Neville looks at the side of the garage where the sound emanates from, watching it with his eyes.

CUT TO:

EXT. THE HOUSE - PORCH -- DAY

Neville sits on the edge of the porch, waiting patiently for the dog to arrive.

The dog appears between the two familiar houses it always arrives between. But something is different. The dog's eyes are dull and listless. It's uneven on its feet, as if it's been awake for days.

NEVILLE

Oh no...

CUT TO:

EXT. THE HOUSE - PAST -- NIGHT

Neville walks slowly around the side of the house, shot gun in hand. He pumps it slowly, loading a round into the chamber. He looks around the side of the house and sees one of them dangling from the roof.

Another leaps from the neighboring house, startling Neville. This one is successful, landing on Neville's roof. Neville looks around to see if anymore are about, then steps away from his house to look at the roof.

The Vampire is walking toward Neville's chimney. It gets there and looks inside.

Neville runs back inside his front door.

CUT TO:

INT. THE HOUSE - THE LIVING ROOM - PAST -- NIGHT

Neville slams the front door shut and locks it. He runs over to the fireplace and looks up it. He sees the vampire, who is leaning deeply in the chimney. Neville takes his shotgun, places it inside the fireplace, with the butt on the ground and the muzzle aiming up the chimney. Looking away, with a BLAST Neville fires the gun.

A loud SLAM of the Vampires body against the house is heard, along with a SLIDING noise and an eventual THUMP of the vampire landing on the ground outside.

Neville goes to a window nearby the thump and peers through the cracks in the boards.

The Vampire is not moving. Then, it stirs. Neville is shocked. The Vampire rises and turns to look around as Neville looks on in horror.

CUT TO:

INT. LIVING ROOM -- DAY

Neville has managed to get the dog in the house, with a noticeable effort that has left him with a bleeding hand. The dog crouched in the corner, showing its teeth in an angry display.

NEVILLE

Come on boy. It's ok. You need help. You're sick.

I'll cure you. I promise I'll cure you.

The dog barks, growling vengefully.

CUT TO:

EXT. THE HOUSE NEXT DOOR - PAST -- DAY

Neville walks around the inside of the house, pouring gasoline everywhere.

JUMP TO

Neville stands outside the house as it burns to the ground, a water hose in hand.

CUT TO:

INT. KATHY'S ROOM - PAST -- DAY

Neville enters. Kathy can he heard, her breathing labored. Neville walks over and kneels next to Kathy's bed. Neville kneels down next to the bed and takes Kathy's hand.

NEVILLE

Kathy's dying...

EXT. CEMETERY CRYPT - THE PAST -- DAY

Neville stands outside the crypt, disheveled and broken.

NEVILLE

So is everyone else. The city dug up the high school football field. They're dumping body's there. Hundred's of them. The world seems to be crumbling around me. The plant shut down. There are all these people, just wandering around sick. Ben bit me when I tried to help him. He looks like death. They all do. Some of them wander around town at night.

(crying)

I had to shoot someone the other night. I didn't know what to do. He was trying to get into the house. But... but... he got up. He just... he got up and walked it off... I'd swear if I didn't know any better...

Neville hears a scratching sound inside the crypt and a dull hum. He approaches the crypt, his tears having ceased, the sounds become clearer. It's a woman's voice. And she's calling his name.

VIRGINIA

Robert... Robert...

A look of terror washes over his face.

INT. THE HOUSE - THE PAST -- DAY

Neville rushes into his house, searching. Searching for something. He hurries into his kitchen, rummaging through his utensils and other kitchenware.

CUT TO:

EXT. THE HOUSE - BACKYARD - THE PAST -- DAY

Neville picks through the shed, tossing aside shovels, rakes, and other various gardening tools till he finds what he's looking for... an ax.

EXT. CEMETERY CRYPT - THE PAST -- DAY

Neville steadies himself outside the crypt, then slips inside.

CUT TO:

INT. THE HOUSE -- DAY

Neville holds the dog by the scruff of the neck, a chloroform covered cloth across the dogs nose.

NEVILLE

That's a good boy. That's a good boy.

Neville sits on the couch, the dogs head on his lap. The dog whines slightly. Neville takes the cloth from the dog's mouth. The dog has become much calmer, docile.

NEVILLE

I'll fix you boy. I'll cure you.

CUT TO:

EXT. CEMETERY - THE PAST -- DAY

Neville walks across the CEMETERY grounds ax in hand. His white shirt stained with blood.

CUT TO:

EXT. THE FIRE - THE PAST -- DAY

Neville stands at the edge of the pit. He holds a blanket covered body.

Along the edge of the pit, OTHER PEOPLE stand looking into the pit. Some depositing bodies, others kneeled in prayer. Some consoling each other, crying and hugging.

Neville falls to his knees, the weight of what he is about to do too much for him. He cries, broken and shattered. He lets the body go and it rolls down the pit...

CUT TO:

EXT. THE HOUSE - BACKYARD -- DAY

Neville stands before a much smaller pit. A grave. A very tiny, open grave. He tosses a large garbage bag into the pit; the dogs body. He then tosses a smaller bag; the dogs head.

JUMP TO

The pit is now covered and Neville is hammering a cross into the ground. On a small board attached to it is painted: "Dog, b. ? D. March 15th, 1976"

END OF ACT TWO

ACT THREE

INT. SEWER -- DAY

A silhouette runs down the giant pipe. As it grows closer to us, we see it is Neville. He's breathing hard and carrying his mallet and a stake. His beard is full, his expression one of fear. He makes a quick move to the left, hiding in the shadows.

Following closely behind are OTHER SILHOUETTE's, three in total, moving almost as fast as Neville's. The slow their approach as they grow closer to Neville's position.

We see Neville's face. He's solid, prepared. He flies from his hiding place.

He knocks the 1ST VAMPIRE with a slam from his shoulder. He clocks the 2ND VAMPIRE in the side of the head with his mallet, disorienting him. Neville turns and upper cuts the 3RD VAMPIRE with his mallet.

He returns to the 1st Vampire, who has risen to his hands and knees. Neville takes his stake, positions it over the back of the 1st Vampire, then brings his mallet down on it all with in mere seconds. He's gotten better at it, faster. The 1st Vampire flail's on the ground before it dies.

The 3rd Vampire leaps upon his back. Neville rises again, flipping the 3rd Vampire over onto its back. Neville quickly pulls another stake from his belt, slamming it home in the vampire's chest.

The 2nd Vampire has regained its composure, its equilibrium returned. Neville rises and faces the vampire. The two begin to circle each other. Neville takes a few light swings with his mallet, testing the vampires speed and agility.

As they circle, the vampire moves into a small amount of ambient light. We get a first clear look at its face, at any of the three's faces. It's different from the other vampires that Neville has been slaying. It's pale, like an albino's. Not like the dead one's that he has dealt with so many times. It takes Neville by surprise, for a moment, to see someone whose face is so close to his.

The 2nd Vampire takes the moment, and lunges.

CUT TO:

EXT. AQUIFER -- DAY

Neville exits from a large open pipe into the day light. He's disheveled from fighting, the light piercing his eyes, nearly blinding him. He's been in the sewers for hours, hunting. He heads toward the station wagon in the distance.

LEGEND: "MARCH, 1978"

CUT TO:

EXT. THE HOUSE -- DAY

Neville faces the rubble next to his house, his back to us. We hear the familiar sound of urine escaping his body. A zip and Neville steps away from the house.

JUMP TO

Neville is at his back porch. He sits naked, his body lean and muscular. He has sporadic scars over his body. They are not visual overpowering but omnipresent. He pours water over his head, then picks up a bottle of shampoo and pours some into his hands. He works a lather into his hair and his beard.

NEVILLE

Their getting smarter...

CUT TO:

INT. THE HOUSE -- DAY

Neville sits at his writing desk, his journal open, his pen nimble and quick.

NEVILLE

Either their getting smarter or I'm getting slower.

Some appear to be adapting to the disease, even

overcoming it. They appear more albino than vampire. They're still relatively weak compare to me, but

they're getting stronger... and they appear organized... The question is: are they returning to their human

state or are they becoming something else? If so,

how long do I remain here if they know what I am?

CUT TO:

EXT. STREET -- MORNING

Neville jogs down the street, a pack on his back filled with stakes. He has his trusty mallet strapped to his side, noticeably weathered from use. Stakes line his belt, sweat dripping from his brow. He reaches the park.

CUT TO:

EXT. THE PARK -- DAY

Neville sits at the same picnic table he sat at two years ago, hind quarters on the table top, his hands holding a sandwich. The growth around the table is now almost over taking it. Neville looks at the skyline, as beautiful as it was two years. It's one of the few things that keeps Neville going and seldom changes.

Across the length of the park, Neville spots a white blob moving across the horizon. As it grows closer, Neville stops eating his lunch. He sets it down, rises from the table, and walks slowly toward it.

As the distance between the blob and Neville gets smaller, the blob becomes clear. It's a WOMAN. Her red hair blows in the breeze, her sun dress catching in the wind. Neville can make out her slender form as it glides across the landscape. She's not more than thirty-years-old and walking in the daylight. Neville stops and closes his eyes.

NEVILLE

Clear your mind.

He reopens them, and she's still there. She hasn't noticed him and she continues to walk toward him.

Neville makes his first mistake; he raises his arm and waves at her. He catches her attention. She stops. He drops his arm. He steps toward her and she becomes frightened. She turns and runs in the opposite direction.

NEVILLE

Wait!

Neville instinctively bolts after her.

CUT TO:

EXT. STREET -- DAY

Neville runs after the Woman, his sneakers tapping on the ground, her bare feet slapping against the pavement. His long powerful legs work like pistons chasing after the Woman.

The two run panting. The woman trips, losing her balance and falling. Neville arrives at her position, stopping just short of running her down.

NEVILLE

Here, let me help you.

The Woman scuttles back, crab walking on her hands to get away from him.

NEVILLE

I'm not going to hurt you!

At the anger in his voice she moves back even faster. Neville tries to help her again and she punches him in the side of his head.

NEVILLE

Damn it!

He's slightly dizzy from the hit. He blinks and takes a breath.

NEVILLE

Get up. I'm not going to hurt you!

Neville stands rigid, unmoving. The Woman has ceased her retreat and her back now rests against a parked car.

NEVILLE

What are you afraid of?

No answer.

NEVILLE

What's you name?

No answer.

NEVILLE

(loudly)

Well?

WOMAN

R-Ruth.

A shudder runs through Neville's body. He hasn't heard another human's unrecorded voice in years.

NEVILLE

(plain, flat)

Ruth.

Ruth takes this moment to attempt to run. Neville swiftly grabs his mallet from his belt and whacks her on the head. She falls unconscious.

BLACKOUT

DISSOLVE TO:

INT. THE HOUSE -- DAY

Ruth sleeps on his bed. The clock reads: four-twenty-two. Neville stands in the doorway, staring. Staring at her face, her hips, her legs, her breasts. Neville leaves the door way.

JUMP TO

He stands in the dining room, arranging his implements. He carefully arranges his crucifix, Star of David, and other religious implements. He prepares fresh pressed garlic in a mortar pestle. He places stakes on the table and lays his trusty mallet next to them.

JUMP TO

He kneels next to the bed, staring at her face. He hasn't seen another _real_ human in over two years. She is Venus.

JUMP TO

Neville is in the kitchen. A pot of water warms on the stove. Neville shaves, look in a mirror, dipping his razor in the pot to clean off the facial hair.

JUMP TO

Five-Thirty. Neville sits in a chair in the corner of his bedroom, watching her sleep. He stairs at the gold cross around her neck. She stirs and awakens. She opens her eyes and sees him in the corner.

NEVILLE

Where are you from?

She lies there blankly, not answering.

NEVILLE

I asked you, where are you from?

RUTH

Ing-Inglewood.

NEVILLE

You live alone?

RUTH

I was married.

NEVILLE

Where's your husband?

RUTH

He's dead.

NEVILLE

For how long...

RUTH

I'm not sure. I haven't paid attention to a calendar since...

NEVILLE

What did you do after he died?

The woman bites her lower lip.

RUTH

I ran. I ran away.

NEVILLE

You mean you've been wandering all this time?

RUTH

Y-yes.

Neville stands and walks over to her. He thrusts a bowl he's been holding in her face. It contains the mashed pulp of the garlic cloves.

She turns her head away with a faint cry.

RUTH

What are you doing?

NEVILLE

Smell this.

RUTH

What?

NEVILLE

SMELL THIS!

With a gagging sound, he holds her against the bed.

RUTH

Stop it, please!

Her body twitches. Neville pulls back from her. She vomits over the side of the bed.

RUTH

Are you satisfied?

NEVILLE

You're one of them.

RUTH

What?

NEVILLE

You're one of them. You're infected.

She says nothing.

NEVILLE

Nothing to say?

RUTH

You think I'm one of them?

NEVILLE

I think you _might_ be.

Ruth holds her cross on her chest up.

RUTH

What about this?

NEVILLE

That means nothing.

RUTH

I'm awake. I'm not in a coma.

NEVILLE

I've been in Inglewood, several times.

You didn't hear my car?

RUTH

Inglewood is a big place. And what are you doing shoving that shit into my face!

NEVILLE

All of them react the way you did. All of them.

RUTH

You're going to judge me as one of them because you shove some garlic in my face while you're holding me down.

NEVILLE

Yes!

RUTH

I have an empty stomach! Feed me some food and I'll smell whatever you want and you can see what my reaction is.

Ruth rises from the bed and stumbles toward the closed door. Neville sits down in a corner chair, watching like a lab technician studying a rat in a maze.

NEVILLE

What are you doing?

She fumbles with the locks at the door, trying to free herself of her confines.

NEVILLE

You can't go out there. The street will be full of them in a little while.

RUTH

I'm not staying here! What's the difference if they kill me? I didn't ask to come here! You dragged me here! Let me go!

NEVILLE

You can't go out.

Neville carries her a drink from the corner of the room he was sitting in. He extends it toward Ruth.

NEVILLE

Drink it. It'll calm you down.

RUTH

Why do you want me to stay?

NEVILLE

Because even if you are infected I'd rather spend what time we can together than leave you at the mercy of what they do out there.

RUTH

Which is?

NEVILLE

Not pleasant.

Neville motions for her to take the drink. She does.

CUT TO:

INT. DINING ROOM -- NIGHT

Classical music plays low in the background. The two sit, opposite each. They sit in silence, eating their dinner. All etiquette has left Neville and he eats without really thinking that she is there. Ruth eats relatively daintily, playing with her food more than eating it.

RUTH

How long have you lived here?

NEVILLE

(between bites)

Twenty years, give or take.

RUTH

No, I mean, since...

NEVILLE

(stopping momentarily to answer)

Oh... uh... since my daughter finally died..

about two and a half years...

Neville returns to his supper.

RUTH

I'm sorry.

NEVILLE

What?

RUTH

I'm sorry.

NEVILLE

For what?

RUTH

Your daughter.

NEVILLE

Oh... thank you...

Silence.

NEVILLE

How did you protect your house?

RUTH

What?

NEVILLE

You and your husband. How did you protect your house?

RUTH

Boarded it up, like yours. Used crosses...

NEVILLE

They don't always work.

RUTH

What?

NEVILLE

They don't always work. The crosses. Sometimes they work, but not as well as the crucifix. But that only works with Christians.

RUTH

Christians?

NEVILLE

Jews fear the Star of David. Other religions their respective religious symbols. Most will break down with hysterical blindness when faced with a mirror. Almost all will shrink back over what they have become when they see the appropriate religious symbol.

RUTH

That's crazy.

NEVILLE

The weaker the mind, the more healthy the fear of God.

You just have to find the right God.

Neville returns to intently eating his dinner. He glances up occasionally, his eyes resting momentarily on her breasts, then returning to his meal.

RUTH

(hasty to cover her last answer)

We used garlic, too.

NEVILLE

I thought they made you sick.

RUTH

They do. I used to weigh a hundred and twenty pounds.

I weigh ninety-eight now.

He nods.

CUT TO:

INT. HIS BEDROOM -- NIGHT

Ruth stands inside the bedroom, Neville just across the threshold.

NEVILLE

I'm going to lock you in now.

It's for your own good.

Do you understand?

Silence.

NEVILLE

(stronger)

You understand?

RUTH

Yes. Yes, I do.

NEVILLE

We'll talk in the morning.

RUTH

Ok.

Neville reaches for the door to close it.

RUTH

Robert?

NEVILLE

Yes?

RUTH

Thank you.

Neville stares for a moment, wanting to acknowledge with more than just a stare, but a stare is all he has. He closes the door.

CUT TO:

INT. LIVING ROOM -- DAY

Neville makes himself comfortable on the couch, as comfortable as he can for a couch that wasn't made for sleeping. He reaches up and turns off the lamp.

CUT TO:

EXT. THE HOUSE - BACKYARD -- DAY

Ruth kneels on the ground in the backyard, bathing herself with a bucket of water and a sponge. She is naked and we see her smooth slender back. She is attractive on a level Neville couldn't think possible as he stands off in the distance watching. It's more stimuli than he has had in years. It's more than he ever thought would be possible again. He catches a slight side view of her breast, just almost but still not revealing her nipple. This becomes too much for him and head steps back.

CUT TO:

INT. HIS BEDROOM -- DAY

Neville hovers over his work bench, making more stakes. He's lost in his work, attempting to banish the thought of sex from his mind.

Ruth appears in the doorway, wrapped in a towel.

RUTH

Robert?

NEVILLE

(without stopping his work)

Yes?

RUTH

Do you have anything else... anything else I could wear?

NEVILLE

In the closet.

Ruth walks over and opens the closet. There are four dresses, all light and airy. Ruth reaches for a sun dress with roses on it.

NEVILLE

Please leave the one with the roses on it.

It's the one that most smells like her.

Ruth stops herself then moves her hand to another dress in the closet.

CUT TO:

EXT. STREET -- DAY

Neville and Ruth patrol the streets. They are an odd couple. He walks in his standard sneakers, white t-shirt, and blue jeans. A backpack is full of stakes, his mallet slapping lightly against his thigh. She is in a pair of Virginia's old thong sandals, the light yellow sun dress she borrowed fitting surprising well. They walk in relative silence before Ruth breaks it.

RUTH

Do you always wear a white t-shirt and blue jeans?

NEVILLE

Not really into washing clothes.

Silence.

RUTH

Do you always walk when you are patrolling?

NEVILLE

Once I realized that the station wagon wasn't going to run on hopes and dreams I started only using it only when absolutely necessary.

RUTH

Oh.

Silence.

RUTH

Do you think...?

NEVILLE

Ruth.

RUTH

Yes?

NEVILLE

I've lived a fairly isolated life for the last two years and I appreciate the company..

RUTH

I appreciate it to.

NEVILLE

...if you keep yammering on, I'm going to have to put a stake in your chest.

RUTH

Oh... sorry...

Silence.

RUTH

Neville?

NEVILLE

(begrudgingly)

Yes?

RUTH

Do you ever find living ones? Living people?

NEVILLE

No.

RUTH

Well, how do you know? How do you know if they aren't living?

NEVILLE

(taking a deep breath)

If you're infected... you're already dead.

RUTH

How do you know if they're infected...?

Neville stops, spinning toward her.

NEVILLE

(angry)

Everyone is infected, all right! Have you stopped

by the high schools football field lately? Have you smelled it? Have you seen the burning ash? Everyone

is infected! And anyone left walking is just a vague memory of what the human race used to be.

Ruth is noticeably disturbed by Neville's forcefulness. Neville returns to his calmer state, continuing back down the street. Ruth follows.

RUTH

How do you know you're not infected?

NEVILLE

What?

RUTH

How do you know? That you're not one of them?

Neville is disconcerted. He's never thought of that before. They continue their walk in silence.

CUT TO:

INT. LIVING ROOM -- NIGHT

Neville sleeps, listlessly on the couch. He tosses and turns as his mind flips through images in his head:

FLASHBACK: Virginia cleans the house while Kathy plays with toys on the floor.

FLASHBACK: Neville holding a handful of dirt, letting it trickle through his fingers onto Virginia's grave.

FLASHBACK: Neville shoving Virginia against the wall, before he swings his ax at her neck.

Dark form hovers in the living room moves toward Neville. As the form gets closer, he wakes with a start.

NEVILLE

Virge!

The form recoils against the living room wall. Neville lurches up, eyes still cloudy from sleep. He grabs for the lamp near the couch and turns it on.

NEVILLE

Virge?

(weakly)

Virge?

His eyes begin to clear. A thin stream of light from the open peep hole pierces the darkness. The form is Ruth.

RUTH

No... it's Ruth... it's Ruth...

NEVILLE

(disappointed)

Oh... what are you doing?

Ruth heads to the peep hole and closes it.

RUTH

Looking... just... looking...

NEVILLE

Why?

RUTH

I don't know... morbid curiosity, I guess.

We didn't have a peep hole. I never looked

out at them.

NEVILLE

Never?

RUTH

No.

Neville nods. He walks over to the peep hole and opens it. He scans the outside, just a few of them wandering around.

NEVILLE

Not pretty, is it?

RUTH

No... one of them keeps calling for you.

NEVILLE

Cortman.

RUTH

He comes and he goes.

NEVILLE

Yeah, he does that.

RUTH

You know him?

NEVILLE

We used to car-pool to work together.

RUTH

He was your neighbor?

NEVILLE

And my friend... He's been pretty elusive.

RUTH

Elusive?

NEVILLE

He hides, during the day. But not like the rest. They all tend to just do their best to find shade, get out of the UV. But him, he's a hard one. I've checked everywhere I can think of, but...

RUTH

He's elusive.

NEVILLE

Yeah.

RUTH

Who's Virge?

NEVILLE

What?

Neville walks over to the dry bar in the living room. He pours himself a drink and slops it down.

RUTH

You said it just before you woke up.

NEVILLE

She was my wife.

RUTH

I'm sorry. How did she die?

NEVILLE

I suppose that depends on how you look at it. When she died it was because of the disease. When I laid her to rest...

FLASHBACK: Neville exits the crypt, his shirt splattered with blood.

NEVILLE

...it was because I cut her head off.

Neville turns to Ruth, his eyes sad, but strong. He's holding back the emotion. Ruth steps forward to comfort him, but he holds his hand up to stop her.

NEVILLE

She was the first.

RUTH

The first what?

NEVILLE

The first one. The first one I ever... freed.

RUTH

I'm so sorry, Robert.

NEVILLE

(Fighting back the tears)

It's ok... I mean... then when Kathy died I had to... I had to put her into the fire... I couldn't bury her with her mother. They wouldn't let me.

RUTH

Who wouldn't let you?

NEVILLE

The government. What was left of the government. I had to put her body in the fire...

Neville crumples to the ground crying. Ruth rushes to his side to comfort him.

NEVILLE

I saw one man, holding his son.

CUT TO:

EXT. THE FIRE - FLASHBACK -- DAY

Neville kneels, holding Kathy's wrapped little body, crying. He looks to his left and sees a MAN HOLDING HIS SON, whose body is uncovered.

NEVILLE

He was kneeling there, petting his son's face. His body was wracked from the disease and he looked like he had been dead for a while. His father was crying uncontrollably.

The MAN throws himself into the pit.

NEVILLE

Then he was gone.

CUT TO:

INT. LIVING ROOM -- NIGHT

Same as before.

NEVILLE

He just... threw himself... he threw himself into

the fire with his son's body. And I thought to myself:

Why can't I do that? Why am I so weak? Why don't I have the wear-with-all to end it? Why don't I have that strength now?

Ruth comforts him, rubbing his back and holding him.

CUT TO:

INT. HIS BEDROOM -- MORNING

The two lay in bed naked, Ruth holding Robert from behind.

Robert wakes. Without moving, he looks at the clock on the bedside table: five-thirty. Neville rises.

CUT TO:

EXT. THE HOUSE - PORCH -- MORNING

Neville steps out the front door onto the porch, barefoot and in his jeans. Vampires are still leaving in the morning's dawn. He watches them. One scurries under a house. Another walks in through the door of a house, not closing the door behind them. He's paying attention, making mental notes in his head of where they are going.

He notices, across the street, the Venetian blinds in one house close. He immediately turns and walks back into the house.

CUT TO:

INT. HIS BEDROOM -- CONTINUOUS

Neville barges into the bedroom, slamming the door against the wall. Ruth wakes with a start. Neville walks to the wall hook where is mallet is stored inside his belt. He pulls it off and puts it on.

RUTH

Robert? Robert, what's wrong?

Neville doesn't answer. He walks over to his work table, picks up stakes, and slides them into the pockets slots on his belt.

RUTH

Robert, what is it?

NEVILLE

They're watching...

RUTH

What?

Neville finish's sliding the stakes in his belt and heads for the door of the bedroom.

NEVILLE

Stay here.

Neville walks out of the bedroom.

CUT TO:

EXT. THE HOUSE - FRONT LAWN -- MORNING

Neville slams out the front door, crossing his lawn. His stride is long. Ruth quickly follows, running to keep up. He crosses the street, Ruth nipping at his heals.

NEVILLE

Robert? What is it, Robert?

Neville doesn't answer. He crosses the lawn of the house across the street from his, the lawn two feet high from lack of maintenance.

NEVILLE

Stay out here.

He steps to the porch and with one powerful movement he kicks the front door in.

CUT TO:

INT. HOUSE ACROSS THE STREET -- DAY

The door swings open, the handle flying into the living room. He stands powerfully in the door. He looks left and sees a VAMPIRE that has been watching. He's cowering against a wall. His eyes and Neville's meet. The Vampire is spooked, but he is obviously more alert than the usual Vampires Neville has dealt with. He's like the others from the sewer.

The Vampires eyes dart over to a long metal spear against the wall. Neville's sees what the Vampire is looking at. The Vampire lunges for the spear. Neville lunges for the Vampire.

The two struggle. What little furniture that is left in the house is kicked and knocked over in the fight. The Vampire gains control, positioning Neville on his back, strangling him. Neville, in the throws of trying to find a free breath, pulls his mallet from his belt and clocks the Vampire on the side of the head. Neville climbs on top of the Vampire and takes swing after swing. A final cracking sound can be heard, the vampire's skull finally splitting open.

Neville rolls off the Vampire, breathing deeply, winded from the fight. Ruth stands in the doorway to the house, crying. She looks at the vampire, its body still twitching. Through her tears, she turns to look at Neville. Neville looks at her through the sweat and blood wondering: is she crying for me, or him?

NEVILLE

My wife used to say she could look into my eyes

and know me.

CUT TO:

INT. HIS BEDROOM - LAST NIGHT

Neville and Ruth lie in bed, facing each other. They are curled up like two school girls talking about their hopes and dream. Neville is still slightly teary eyed.

NEVILLE

Not know what I was thinking, but know me.

RUTH

What do you mean?

NEVILLE

What your thinking is not who you are. What you do is not who you are. What you are is something deeper. Something more primal.

RUTH

And that's you?

NEVILLE

I guess.

RUTH

So what does that make your actions?

Neville looks deep into her eyes.

NEVILLE

What was that?

CUT TO:

INT. THE HOUSE - LIVING ROOM -- DAY

Neville and Ruth are circling the room. Neville is obviously agitated. Ruth is attempting to defend her actions.

NEVILLE

What the fuck was that?

RUTH

What are you talking about?

NEVILLE

Who was that?

RUTH

Who?

NEVILLE

The thing across the street. And don't act like you don't know anything. You were crying because of him...

RUTH

No, I wasn't.

NEVILLE

SHUT UP! All it took was one moment.

CUT TO:

INT. HIS BEDROOM - LAST NIGHT

Same as before. Neville is petting her face.

NEVILLE

One moment and all the security I'd built up all these years. All these boundaries that I'd placed; to keep myself alive were gone. All gone in an instant?

RUTH

When? When was that?

NEVILLE

When you arrived.

CUT TO:

INT. HIS BEDROOM -- DAY

Same as before. Neville is livid.

NEVILLE

He was faster. They've been getting faster and stronger. They're almost as strong as they used to be when they were alive. None of them have been like that.

RUTH

Neville...

NEVILLE

Tell me, Ruth... what were you really doing at that peep hole last night?

RUTH

I told you, I was...

NEVILLE

No you weren't, Ruth. No you weren't.

CUT TO:

INT. HIS BEDROOM - LAST NIGHT

Same as before.

NEVILLE

What am I going to do?

RUTH

About what?

NEVILLE

If you are infected. When the time comes, I don't think I can do it. I can't do it again.

RUTH

You won't have to.

Ruth touches Neville's face and they kiss. A delicate, friendly kiss, before passion over takes them.

RUTH

(SCREAMS)

CUT TO:

INT. HIS BEDROOM -- DAY

Neville is after Ruth, chasing her down with his mallet in one hand, a stake in the other. She scampers out of the room, crying and throwing things at him and knocking over furniture.

CUT TO:

INT. LIVING ROOM -- CONTINUOUS

Ruth comes tearing into the room, running to the front door. She grabs the shot gun and points directly in Neville's face. He stops dead in his tracks.

The look in each others eyes. Neville stare piercing through Ruth's tears. He's judging if she'd do it.

SWING. Neville hits the barrel of the shotgun with his mallet, knocking it out of his face. The shotgun discharges, blasting against the wall. Neville grabs her by the waist, holding her from behind, wrestling for the shot gun.

They struggle, the gun aiming toward the ground. It discharges again, throwing both of them backwards. Neville hits his head on the corner of the wall.

INSTANT DARKNESS

CUT TO:

INT. LIVING ROOM -- TWILIGHT

Neville lays asleep, motionless. Blood has trickled from his head. Not too much, but enough to cause worry. His life is playing inside his head. Kathy, playing in the backyard. Virginia, in the kitchen cooking. Cortman, working at the plant. Then he see's their death's... Virginia, and the ax. Kathy and the pit. Cortman, crying through the peephole.

CORTMAN

(much louder, like a human, not a zombie vampire)

NEVILLE!

Neville wakes with a start. He reaches up to his head and pulls back his hand to see blood. He's dazed. Confused.

He looks over at the front door. Outside he can here them coming. Neville crawls to the front door, dragging his legs like a dead weight. We see the vampires get closer to the door as Neville reaches it. He closes it just in time.

He leans his body up against the door. The door handle turns. Slowly, like a senior citizen trying to enter through their own front door. Neville reaches over and picks up his wood bar. Tired and struggling her raises the bar and places it across the door.

Neville scans the room through his bleary eyes. Ruth and the shotgun are gone.

Neville slowly gets to his feet, propping himself against the front door. He stumbles over to the dry bar and pours himself a drink. He walks to his writing chair, a mouth full of whisky choking its way down his throat. He looks down at his desk. His journal is gone.

Light flashes through the cracks in the boarded up windows. They flare in Neville's eyes. He drops the glass with a clunk on the floor. Neville's hobbles over to the peep hole. He opens it.

Through the frame of the peep hole we see two ARMY JEEPS roll onto the lawn. EIGHT MEN, four to each jeep, all dressed in black, faces as pale as night, carrying long pointed metal spears like the one that the vampire Neville killed in the house across the street. The Eight Men take to disposing of the vampires at Neville's home. Stabbing them through various parts of the abdomen, batting them in the heads with their spears.

Neville stares through the hole in amazement. Who are these men? What are they doing here? Neville hurries to move around the house and peer through various slits in the boards. He looks through one and sees a vampire being staked. Through another slit, he sees a female vampire being dragged from a tree.

Neville returns to the peep hole to see Cortman scurrying across the roof top of the house across the street. He's trying to climb down into the chimney.

NEVILLE

So that's where you were hiding...

One of the Eights has climbed onto the roof and is making his way to Cortman. A look of concern sweeps Neville's face. His friend and long time quarry stabbed in the chest by one of the Eight.

NEVILLE

NO!

Two of the Eight have finished their disposal of the vampires on the ground. As Neville yells, they look to his front door and see him. They head for the front door. Neville closes the peep hole quickly. He grabs the other board and places it across the door. He backs away from the door. A slamming noise can he head outside.

WHACK! WHACK! An ax head pops through the front door. Neville turns in fear and runs to his bedroom.

CUT TO:

INT. HIS BEDROOM -- CONTINUOUS

Neville bursts through the door. He runs to the hook where he keeps his belt that holds his stakes. It's gone. He runs out of the room.

CUT TO:

INT. THE HOUSE - LIVING ROOM -- CONTINUOUS

Neville runs through the living room. They are breaking through.

CUT TO:

INT. KITCHEN -- CONTINUOUS

Neville's tears into the kitchen. He opens the third from the bottom drawer. He rummages through cooking utensils and paraphernalia till he finds what he is look for: a butcher's knife. He runs back to the living room.

CUT TO:

INT. THE HOUSE - LIVING ROOM -- CONTINUOUS

Neville runs into the living room. The ax has chopped through enough for one of them to reach their arm through. He reaches for the top bar and lifts it from its place of barricade. Neville quickly moves to the door and stabs the Vampire in the arm. He hears a scream outside. The arm recoils back outside.

A SPEAR lances through the hole, Neville falling backwards to avoid it. Another arm returns through the door, grabbing the lower bar and lifting it. The arms hand grabs for the door knob and the door swings open.

TWO VAMPIRES move through the doorway. VAMPIRE ONE carries an ax, VAMPIRE TWO carries a spear. Both have the look of the dead, their eyes glassed over, far off and forgotten. Their skin pale as a moonlit night. They move towards Neville.

Neville scurries back. He bumps into the wall behind him. Vampire Two lunges at him with the spear. Neville slaps it away with his hands and rolls out of the way. Vampire One swings with his ax, missing Neville as he rolls out of the way. Neville turns and hacks into its stomach. Vampire One screams. Neville grabs the ax and clocks the Vampire over the head with the butt of it, knocking him unconscious.

Neville goes toe to toe with the Vampire Two. They take swings and jabs at each other, circling like vultures. Vampire Two STABS at Neville. Neville DEFLECTS the blow with the butt of the ax, knocking the spear out of the Vampires hands. Neville then slams the head of it in the vampire's side. The Vampire cries out in pain. Vampire Two, in the midst of his pain, grabs a knife from his belt and stabs Neville in the shoulder. Neville cries out in pain, falling to his back.

Through his eyes we see out the front door. The remaining Eight pile the bodies of the slain vampires on the front lawn. They take gas cans and pour gasoline over the bodies. One of the Eight lights a match and flings it on bodies. The last image that Neville and we see is a giant bonfire, the pile of corpses bursting into flames.

Neville falls unconscious.

BLACK OUT

CUT TO:

INT. CELL -- NIGHT

Neville lies on a cot in a small, dank room. The walls have pealing paint, a single window, boarded up to prevent light from entering. A single wooden door is the only entrance. A chair tucked under a small table with a pitcher of water and paper cups sit across from the cot.

Neville is sweating. He's in shock. His body trembles. With each seizure we see the events the previously unfolded. The vampires cutting through the door. Slamming the hatchet into the side of Vampire Two. Knocking Vampire One unconscious. But when he sees their faces, they are empty shells. Skulls, with hallow eyes, and pointy teeth. The last image he sees is his struggle with Ruth. She flips her hair and reveals a decomposing face. All this happens in the span of moments. Neville wakes.

Neville looks up, his eyes scanning his confines. He looks to the window, the light cutting through the semi-darkness of the room. He tilts his head back, looking at wooden door.

NEVILLE

(shakily)

I suppose it could be worse...

Sounds can be heard on the other side of the door. Bars being lifted and locks being opened. The door opens. Ruth enters, dressed in a black top and black pants.

NEVILLE

I was wrong.

RUTH

How are they treating you?

NEVILLE

I'm not dead, so well I suppose.

RUTH

I'm sorry about this Neville.

NEVILLE

Yes, I'm sure you are.

Neville rises with, wincing from the paining and straining not to fall back unconscious from it. He leans his back against the wall, his legs hanging over the side of the cot.

RUTH

They weren't supposed to hurt you.

NEVILLE

That explains the spears and the violence.

RUTH

Why did you fight them?

NEVILLE

Well, when someone puts an ax through your door some day we'll see how you respond.

RUTH

Are you thirsty?

Ruth moves over to the table and pours Neville a glass. She turns and extends the glass to him. Neville doesn't look at the glass, but instead locks eyes with Ruth.

NEVILLE

How did you do it?

RUTH

Drink.

NEVILLE

Walking in the sunlight... now that's a trick...

Ruth sits down in disgust.

NEVILLE

Some kind of lotion? You'd have to pack an awful lot to make through as many days as we spent out in the sun.

RUTH

Robert...

NEVILLE

Was it drugs? Is there some drug that allows you out in the sun?

RUTH

People are different Neville...

NEVILLE

I should have known from the garlic reaction...

RUTH

(raising her voice, cutting him off)

People react differently to different things Neville. You give some people a shot of penicillin and they die.

NEVILLE

Some people get infected with the germ and they live.

RUTH

That's right.

NEVILLE

I'm the only one, Ruth. I'm the only one I've found. I'm the only one that has survived.

RUTH

There are degrees, Robert.

NEVILLE

Degrees.

RUTH

You didn't get sick. You're fine.

NEVILLE

That still remains to be seen...

RUTH

I can tolerate the light. That's why I was chosen.

NEVILLE

Chosen.

RUTH

It was painful Robert. It was extremely painful. It took weeks of tanning to get my skin to have this color. Can you imagine it? Your flesh feeling like it is literally on fire?

NEVILLE

I would imagine having to suck the blood of others to be a bit more difficult. And now that I'm in the presence of a seemingly rational vampire, maybe you can explain to me how everyone didn't die off.

RUTH

At first, some people did. Many did. They didn't think it right to be alive anymore. That we were an abomination.

NEVILLE

You are an abomination.

The following two sections of dialogue overlap each other

RUTH

No Robert... You are the abomination. Hunting people down. Living, breathing people. Killing innocents as they hid from the light. People who knew nothing of what had become of them. Coming into people's homes and terrorizing them. You're a beast. An evil man who's no better than any monster in any piece of fiction.

NEVILLE

They're all dead, Ruth. The germ killed them. You can circle the issue as much as you want but they are all dead. All of them. What they need is to be freed. Free to move onto the next world. Where they can find their own peace. The sacks of meat that hold them need to be disposed of. I'm simply fulfilling the task that was left to me. What of those men, Ruth? The one's that came for me. They slayed and killed right on my front lawn.

RUTH

That's their job, Robert.

NEVILLE

So what makes me worse than them?

RUTH

You killed the living.

NEVILLE

If that's true, why didn't they kill me.

RUTH

They fear you, Robert...

NEVILLE

They fear me? They...

Ruth looks to the slats in the window. Robert looks over at the window. All sound in the room quiets. The absence of sound is deafening... but slowly, the shuffling of feat outside can be heard.

NEVILLE

How many are out there? How many in this society of yours?

RUTH

A few hundred... but we'll find more... more like us...

NEVILLE

You need to show them, don't you? Show them there is nothing to be afraid of.

Ruth nods.

NEVILLE

So they're all waiting for... for my death...

RUTH

Execution.

Neville sits down amazed. His expression holds the secret to his amazement. Is it that he is going to be executed or that he is important enough to require execution?

Ruth rises from the chair then sits next to Robert.

NEVILLE

(amazed)

How did it get to this point? How did I become...

RUTH

The boogie man?

NEVILLE

It's not something most people aspire to. They're really afraid of me?

RUTH

They're terrified.

NEVILLE

Ruth, I'm so sorry...

RUTH

Shhhhh... it's all right... it's all right...

NEVILLE

When is it going to happen?

RUTH

In an hour or so?

NEVILLE

What's going to happen to my journal?

RUTH

I'll be taking care of it... I brought you something...

Ruth pulls a knife from her pocket. She unsheathes it and shows it to Neville.

RUTH

It isn't that large, but it should do that trick.

NEVILLE

What trick?

Ruth sheathes it. She slides off the cot and kneels down in front of Neville.

RUTH

You can't fight them, Robert. Not that many.

NEVILLE

I can try.

RUTH

It's society, Neville.

NEVILLE

(chuckling)

Society...

RUTH

I'm doing this to make it easier on you... one way or another... you'll be with her soon.

Neville ceases his amusement and his face tightens. He nods. Ruth kisses him lightly on the lips.

RUTH

(tearing up)

Don't wait too long...

NEVILLE

I won't.

Ruth rises and knocks on the door.

NEVILLE

Ruth?

Ruth turns to face him.

NEVILLE

Thank you.

Ruth nods. The door opens and she exits. Neville unsheathes the knife and inspects it. He rises, shakily, making his way to the boarded up window. Through the tiny slits he can see people, dancing around a fire. Bodies, flinging themselves this way and that, lost in the ecstatic of their new tradition.

NEVILLE

I have become what men fear most. Not death or hate. I am an anathema, a black terror to be destroyed.

Neville sits back down on the bed. He pulls out the knife and places the blade against his wrist.

NEVILLE

A new terror born in death. A new superstition entering the unassailable fortress of forever.

Neville quickly pulls the blade down his wrist. Black screen.

CUT TO:

INT. CELL -- LATER

The door opens, light flooding in. TWO VAMPIRE GUARDS enter. Neville is nowhere to be seen. On the wall, written in blood are the words: I AM LEGEND

THE END


End file.
